


A New Mission

by annieca



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dark Hermione Granger, F/M, One Shot, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 01:24:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8425276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annieca/pseuds/annieca
Summary: Hermione meant to go back to show Regulus he was right in wanting to destroy Voldemort. But when she got there, she found out it wasn't that he wanted to destroy Voldemort - he wanted to become him. And somehow, Hermione decided she wanted to help him do so. Written for the Trick or Treat challenge on Death Eater Express!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Green Girl](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/238504) by Colubrina. 



> Hi all - First Regulus/Hermione fic for me! Hopefully I got him down decently!

Oh, no!” Theo Nott groaned, running a hand through his hair. “You have a plan. You want to..”

“Rehabilitate us,” Draco said, finishing for Theo. “Oh, Hermione, the girl who always has to have a project.”

Hermione glared at the two for a moment before her gaze softened and she smiled. “Now how, in our three lunch dates, have you gotten to know me so well? Yes, you’re my ‘projects.’”

Theo smirked at Draco, “Told you. I had more classes with her in school. I know her better.”

Hermione huffed. “I’m so bored. My day is filled with charity work and a job that doesn’t mean anything.”

“You did take a job that is well-below your abilities simply because you didn’t want to accept a job you thought was being handed to you,” Draco pointed out. “You could be saving the Wizarding World for all they offered you after you passed your NEWTS.”

“I’ve saved the Wizarding World. It was exhausting. I wanted…I thought I wanted a nice quiet job with a small flat, Crookshanks, and my books. But now that I have it…”

“You’ve decided you’re going to make our lives a living hell.” Theo said.

“Something like that.”

***

She and Sirius sat next to each other, each in their own armchair, the only light coming from the fire roaring in the fireplace at Grimmauld Place. They had started their monthly meetings shortly after the war ended – a way for them to catch up when life had every intention of making sure they didn’t even speak to each other, let alone have a nice, quiet, evening with a bottle of wine.

“It’s a good thing you’re doing, Hermione, trying to show the world that you’re not afraid of the Big Bad Something, and that the world isn’t split into black and white.”

Hermione hummed her agreement as she sipped from her wineglass. “I feel like I have been given everything I could possibly ever want materially and socially – all because I chose the ‘right’ side of the war. We’re getting there, but we’re focusing on the next generation and forgetting the current one.”

Sirius sighed. “I wish someone had tried to show Regulus there was another way.”

“Your brother died a hero.”

“No, my brother died alone because I was too proud to realize he was fighting, clawing his way out of the Death Eaters.” Sirius gulped down the last dregs of his wine. “Maybe if there had been someone like you, fighting with him, he would have succeeded. Maybe then we – him, me, James, Lily – we could have all been a family together.”

“What did Dumbledore say – something like it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live?”

Sirius snorted. “That man was a manipulative bastard who used my godson to serve his own purposes.” Hermione couldn’t disagree. Even if her opinion of Dumbledore was bit rosier than Sirius, he wasn’t wrong.

“What if,” Hermione thought out loud, “if there was a way to go back and show your brother he was doing the right thing?”

“Messing with time? Hermione, that’s dangerous.”

“It would be worth it though, wouldn’t it? To see Regulus one more time?”

“Hermione, be careful.”

***

It was very disorientating to be thrown back in time. Hermione had a backstory. She had practiced over and over with Sirius, her name, her demeanor, everything. It had to be perfect. Even the Sorting Hat, when she had presented herself to Dumbledore in his office, had warned her of the mission. “ _Ah, Miss Jugson, or should I say Miss Granger, how nice to see you again. Messing with time is a dangerous endeavor. You may fail in your initial mission, but succeed in other ways. I see there’s only one place for you… Let it be…_ SLYTHERIN!”

After discussing classes and her things getting “shipped” to Hogwarts with Dumbledore, she made her way to the Slytherin table. “Hermione Jugson,” she introduced herself as to Regulus. “Want to show me around?”

Regulus looked up from the Slytherin table at the Great Hall, surprised. He turned around, his sleeve catching on a book, revealing the edge of his Dark Mark. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

Hermione’s eyes flicked down to the exposed Mark and she smiled, “Nope, but I imagine you’ll want to. You know my Dad, Sasha Jugson?” She was winging it – hoping that be a supposed Death Eater daughter would get her an in. She didn’t want to change Regulus’ mind, only remind him he was doing what was right.

“I didn’t know he was married.”

“Oh, he’s not. I’m a bastard,” Hermione said with a bit of a chuckle. “He didn’t know Mum was pregnant when he kicked her out.”

“And you’re here, at Hogwarts, now… why?”

“I reached out to my father after Mum died. Figured I’d join the family business.”

“The family…”

“Are you going to show me around or not? I’ve read all about Hogwarts but it never hurts to get a feel for a place by walking through it.”

Regulus looked around the room to see if anyone was watching him, and then nodded. “Why not?”

***

In the next few weeks they found themselves inseparable – they had every class together save Ancient Runes which Hermione took but Regulus did not. Hermione made sure not to push the Death Eater connection. She knew it would do no good to scare him. He had already joined “the cause” as he called it. She needed him to come back one night from a raid, and figure out Voldemort had the wrong idea. That night came within two months of her dropping into his life.

“Hermione!” Regulus whispered, pushing her bed curtains aside.

“Reggie?” She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “How did you get up here? I thought the stairs wouldn’t…”

“That’s only in Gryffindor. The Slytherin stairs were sweet-talked ages ago.” He said, waving a hand as if to say _that’s not the point_.

It was then Hermione noticed his red-rimmed eyes and the way his hand shook. “Is the Common Room deserted?”

“No, there’s some fifth years worrying over their Herbology homework.”

Hermione nodded toward her bed, pulling the curtains closed and casting a silencing charm. Regulus settled down next to her, leaning against the headboard. “What happened?”

“He made me kill some Muggles. Apparently my dedication was in question.”

“He?” Hermione knew exactly who Regulus was referring to, but she wanted him to say it.

“The Dark Lord. It was an initiation of some sorts.”

“Are you okay?”

“I _killed_ a couple today. They were just a young couple out with their baby for an evening walk. I overheard them saying that their evening walks were the only thing that would get the baby to sleep. She screamed bloody murder when I Avada’ed them. Only a few months old and she already knew her whole world had just changed.”

“Oh, Reggie,” Hermione pulled Regulus’ toward her into a side hug. “How can I help?”

“I don’t think you can.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure, yet. Can I just stay here for awhile?”

***

“I want you to help me, Hermione,” he asked. “You seem to know more about this than I will ever be able to understand. I need you.”

“Well, when you put it like that, how can I say no?” She kissed his cheek with a smile. “What’s the plan? You become Minister of Magic and we rule the world together?” She noticed Regulus’ blushing and chuckled. “But first, Reggie, you might want to ask me out.”

“Why don’t we discuss this over some spiked cider and a walk among the stars then?” Regulus recovered quickly.

“I think that’s a good idea. Now, what did you get for the Arithmancy homework? I keep getting a probability of zero, which sounds completely off.”

***

They walked away from the castle, each holding a steaming mug of cider that had been spiked with Firewhiskey bribed off of the elves. Apparently it was some of Slughorn’s personal supply to be doled out into his pumpkin juice on special occasions. They were silent at first, unsure of what to say to each other. Finally, as they reached the Black Lake, Hermione spoke first.

“So, you want to help the great and powerful Oz?” She had meant the comment to be light-hearted, a Muggle reference Regulus had only recently learned of, but instead he shuddered, despite the warm beverage in his hand.

“No. I want to defeat him.”

Hermione stopped, and turned. So this is how it all had begun. With a conversation lubricated by a little Firewhiskey. “Why? I thought his ideas of blood supremacy were…” she paused, searching for the right word. When it didn’t materialize, Regulus took over.

“Mudbloods may not be fit to be at Hogwarts, but they don’t deserve to die. The world isn’t split into Mudbloods and purebloods.” In that moment, Regulus sounded so much like the Sirius Hermione knew in her time it made her heart ache. What had she already changed – would Sirius be happy, healthy, and whole years from now because of what she had already done? It was a question she couldn’t answer. Her thoughts had wandered, only to be pulled back by Regulus’ tone which had grown increasingly angry. “What right does he have to kill them anyway? His mother was practically a Squib and his father was a filthy Muggle. What right does he…”

“What do you need me to do?” Hermione interrupted.

“The fact he’s still alive but looks like that…there’s got to be something keeping him alive. We find it. We kill it, we stop him.” Regulus glanced at her before announcing finally, “and maybe then, we can create the world we want.”

“A better world,” Hermione said cautiously.

“A purer world.”

***

“Hermione, come on, you can’t study forever,” Regulus whined. His girlfriend had been in the library all day and he was impatient to get her out. The sun had already gone down and the autumn night chill had already set in. If they were going to get a walk in before curfew, they would need to leave now.

“When you asked me to help with your grand plan,” she began, looking up at him, “what part did you want help with?”

“The…research,” Regulus admitted.

Hermione snapped the book shut and stood up. “And now you’re complaining that I’m spending too much time in the library doing the _exact research you asked me for help on_!” she hissed.

Regulus threw his hands up. “I’m sorry. How about we get some hot cocoa from the kitchens and then go for a walk to stargaze?”

She finished packing up her books and gave him a small smile. “You win this time. Plus, I need to tell you what I found.”

Later, hot chocolate in one hand, the other hands linked, they walked around the edge of the Black Lake, quietly discussing that research. It wasn’t exactly research, though. There was no book left in the Hogwarts Library that would discuss creating or destroying a horocrux. Even the extensive Black family library, which Regulus had offered to her, would have a list of where Voldemort’s soul pieces might be. This all came from Hermione’s knowledge of the Second Wizarding War. Knowledge that would help Regulus, and maybe prevent it from happening.

“I think he’s created five.”

“Five?” Regulus asked, surprised.

“Yes.”

“And how do you figure that?”

“Four Hogwarts founders, and the ring of his grandfather,” Hermione lied. “Of course, I could be wrong.”

“Have you been yet?” He sipped his hot chocolate and glanced at her sidewise.

“Well there was a potion assignment…”

Regulus chuckled. “My beautiful, brilliant witch. Maybe you should be Minister of Magic.”

“Hmm,” Hermione turned to him, “does that mean I get to order you around?”

“Don’t you already do that?”

“Kiss me, Reggie,” she tried ordering him.

He was only too happy to comply.

***

They practiced casting Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirements where Hermione made sure the room was large enough and strengthened enough that if it got out of control, the whole castle wasn’t at risk. She had a pretty good knowledge and control of it already, but Regulus was just starting out. They practiced it until Hermione was absolutely certain that Regulus could cast and control it in a small, directed stream which destroyed the soul inside, but left the object intact.

By the end of the school year they were ready to begin destroying the Horocruxes. Months earlier, Regulus had begun his propaganda campaign first with an interview in the Quibbler that spread to the Prophet about the true identity – halfblood and all! – of the Dark Lord – and had slowly turned the Death Eaters secretly away from Voldemort. Everything was coming together.

“Ah, Regulus, have you brought the Dark Lord a present?” Bellatrix asked, eyeing the bag slung over her cousin’s shoulder.

“Yes, cousin, I have,” Regulus smiled as he stepped into the center of the room, bowing to the Dark Lord. “I bring you, my Lord, your humanity.”

“My humanity?” Voldemort asked with a chuckle. “And how do you propose to have gotten that?”

As a Black with a bit of a flair for the dramatic, Regulus took his time undoing the clasp on the bag before putting each Horocrux-no-longer on the floor in front of Voldemort. He watched the Dark Lord’s face carefully with each item he removed.

“I see,” the Dark Lord was calm, despite the fact Regulus could see the slits of nostrils flaring in the dim light. “And was do you intend to do with my humanity?”

“Oh, you know, use it to my advantage and kill you.”

The Death Eaters present at the meeting, save Bellatrix, were not surprised by this statement. They did, however, roll their eyes at Regulus. “Just get it over with,” Lucius muttered under his breath.

“And how do you think you shall best the greatest wizard of all…” Voldemort slumped in his seat, his wine spilling over the edge of the cup onto his robes.

“By poisoning him, naturally. We Blacks are much too concerned with keeping our hands clean to do any killing by wand or force. Too traceable, you see,” Regulus said with a grin to the now dead Tom Riddle. “Glad to see you took it well, _Tom_.”

***

_5 Years Later – Ministry of Magic_

“So, do you think you’ll be able to be an effective Minister of Magic while caring for a young family?” Rita Skeeter asked the youngest-ever Minister of Magic.

“Oh, I don’t think it will be a problem,” Hermione said, rubbing her swollen belly. “My husband defeated Voldemort with my help. I’m sure we can manage a baby or two.”

 

Fin.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks everyone for reading! Let me know what you thought.


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